Medway launches ClearGov, online data tool

MEDWAY - Residents wanting to know more about how their tax dollars are spent or what the latest enrollment statistics are in local schools now have a detailed tool at their fingertips.

The Board of Selectmen recently launched the town’s upgraded partnership with ClearGov.com, a website that utilizes clever graphics and visuals to represent how the town’s budget is spent, among a variety of other municipal management factors.

Want to know how much revenue the town takes in? What the population of Medway is? The median home value in town?

The answers are all on the website, just search for Medway, Mass.

Officials are hopeful the service, while noting it will increase government transparency, will bring in greater resident interest and foster discussion about town issues and operations, Selectmen Chairman Glenn Trindade said.

“The whole hope is that it now gets more people engaged in the process,” he said.

The website was launched by Chris Bullock of Hopkinton in 2015 in part to help answer the age-old question of where exactly are all those tax dollars going.

But, as Trindade noted, ClearGov does more than that by also providing context as to how a particular town stacks up with others in the area, not by proximity, but rather those of similar sizes and demographics.

Although the site already operates with certain records for thousands of towns, Medway has joined a growing number of local municipalities - including Framingham and Holliston - that have opted to upgrade the service with more detailed and varied information, which Trindade said comes at a cost of approximately $5,000 to $6,000 a year.

The upgrade includes a more extensive breakdown of Medway’s general fund account and debt, officials said.

In Sudbury, which joined on to upgrade the service last July, ClearGov has been a hit with both residents and officials, according to Town Manager Melissa Murphy-Rodrigues.

She said the service was particularly important during the annual budgeting process, noting that it allowed town employees to benchmark their finances with surrounding communities and create slides and visuals to promote conversation.

Being able to determine per-capita spending has been helpful, Murphy-Rodrigues said.

“I think it has created discussion,” she said in an email Wednesday. “I have had people asking for even more information on it so they can educate themselves even more.”

While there are not specific numbers on how many have used the website in Sudbury since last year, Murphy-Rodrigues said the response from residents has definitely been positive. Some have left questions and comments about data they find on the site.

Trindade said he hopes that the tool, with all its data, will serve Medway residents well and provide them context for the issues discussed at public meetings.

Christopher Gavin can be reached at 508 634-7582 or cgavin@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @c_gavinMDN

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